Work-spacing mechanism in buttonhole-sewing machines



B. T. LEVEQU-E. WORK SPACING MECHANISM IN BUTTONHOLE SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV: 14, I919.

Patented Sept. 12,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

B. T. LEI/EQUE. WORK SPACING MECHANISM IN BUTTONHOLE SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOW-I4, I9I9- 1,428,598. P p llz, 1922.v

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

} 1,42 ,598 nsrars PATENT cr tics.

BERNARD T. LEVEQUE, OF W'ENHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOE' T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY NEW JERSEY.

CORPORATION, OF EATEBSON, 'NEW JERSEY, A: CORPORATION OF WORK-SPACINGMECHANTSM IN BUTTONX-IO'LE-SEWING MACHINES.

Applieation filed November 14, 1919. Serial No. 337,983.

T 0 all whom it mctg concern.

Be it known that I, BERNARD T. Lei noon, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wenham, in the county of Essex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Work-Spacing Mechanism in Buttonhole-Sewing Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled; in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to work. spacing mechanism for buttonhole sewingmachines and more particularly to mechanism for spacing the work in machines having a work clamp and a rotary, stitch forming mecha nism, which are relatively removable to sew along the sides and about one or both ends of an eye-ended buttonhole.

The objects of the invention are to provide a construction which. is well adapted for automatically spacing the work between successive buttonh'ole making cycles in a.

machine of the above type and also to.pro vide a construction which may be read ly incorporated in machines which are already- 1 in-v commercial use.

A preferred form of the invention is shown the accompanying drawings appliedto a buttonhole sewing machine having substantially the constructionand mode of operation of the machine'shown and described in Patent No. 1,063,880 to-G", S. Hill dated June 3, 1913. f p i In drawings Fig. 1 is alplan ,viewof so much of the machine as isnecessary to}illus' v trate the application of the-present invention thereto. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. is a detailed sectional view on line 3, Fig. 2. Fig. dis a sectional elevation on line 41:, Fig. 1. Fig' 5 is a detailed section on line 5, Fig. 1, and 6. is a detailed sectionion line 6, 1.

vThe machine illustrated in the drawings comprises, in general, a cutter for cutting the buttonhole slit (not shown), a travelling clamp carriage, indicated at v2, which is movable lengthwise and laterally of thebntton holeand a stitch forming mechanism, which is rotated during the sewing about the eye and about the bar end of the buttonhole and c which comp is s t pp r n ed e. in he under needle 6 and the looper 8. Theclamp carriage carries the work supporting plates 10 and the vertically movableci'amparms 12, carrying the clamping aws 145. The parts thus far referred to are, or may be, the same in construction, arrangement and mode of operation as the corresponding parts fully shown and described in the patent above referredto.

in vapplying the present invention to this machine a work spacer is mounted uponthe clamp carriage and is op'erated, by the endwise travel of the clampv carriage, tointermlttentlyengage and space the work; .In

the construction shown the spacercomprises aria-rm 16,; the forward end of which is connected to the upper end of a vertical shaft 18 mounted in the clampcarriage and the re'arend of which 18 provided with a.

laterally projecting finger 20, the end of which isarranged to underlie the rear edge of the work. T he end of the fingerQO forms the lower jaw of a gripper, the upper jawv of which is formed by the end of a similarly shaped spring ,finp'er 22, whichis secured to the rear end of the spacer arm .16 and overlies the finger 20. The work engaging end of the finger 22may be provided with a conical, or spherical, lugQ-i for engaging the'wo'rk and permitting itto have a slight swinging movement in theijaws of the gripper. The spacer arm is reoiprocated during the forward and backward movements of the clamp carriageby the alternateengage ment of an arm 26 on the lower end "of the shaft 18 with two fixedstop screws 28 and,

30. Aspring 29is connected to the arm 26 and normallytends to holda shoulder 31 on the arm in engagementwith a lug 33 on the lowerend of the bearing for the shaft 18. ,The spring jaw 22 is raised and lowered to open and close the jawswof thespaclng gripper by a cam. block 32, whichunderlies the finger and is mounted for, limited movement with. the finger during the, forward andreturn strokesof the spacer arm16. As shown the cam block is provided with. a vertical rib Madapted to slide ina guide-way 36,.formedin a bracket 38, which is secured to the clamp carriage. The movement of the cam block in one direction is limited by the fixed stop screw, 40 and its movement in the opposite d i Cti J s limited the stop screw 42, which may be readily adjusted to vary the spacing of the buttonholes as will be further explained.

Assumingthat a buttonhole has been completed and the work clamp has moved back into its rearward position tobring the work into register with the buttonhole cutter, the parts will be in the position indicated in the drawings, i. e., in the positions which they occupy after the work has been shifted to bring it into position for the cutting and sewing of the succeeding buttonhole. The cam block 32 will underlie the lug 4-4 on the spring finger 22 and will hold the finger in its raised position out of engagement with the work. After the work clamp has been closed and the cutter operatedto cut the buttonhole slit the clamp carriage will move forward to bring the work into sewing position and then the sewing mechanism will be started. Unless "the spring is strong enou 'h to overcome and move the cam block in its guide'way, which is undesirable, the block and spacer arm will remain in position during the forward travel of the clamp carriage. As the clamp carriage nears the limit of its forward movement the arm 26 will engage the stop 28 so that during the final forward movement of the clamp carriage the arm 16 will'be swung toward the right in Fig. 1. During this movement of the arm the cam block 32 will move with the gripper fingers 20 and 22 until the block engages the screw 40, when its further movement will be arrested. Continued movement of the arm 16 and gripper fingers will carry the lug 4-4 off of the cam block so that the spring finger or jaw 22 will move downward and engage the work. As the finger rides off the cam block the spring 29 will draw the shoulder 31 snugly against the lug 3-3 to accurately position the spacing jaws in initial position.

The jaw 22 will continue in engagement with the work during the rearward travel of the clamp carriage and until the buttonhole has been completed. During the rearward travel of theclamp carriage from sewing to cutting position and after the clamp has been opened, the arm 26 will engage the stop 30 and the spacer arm 16 will be swung toward the left in Fig. 1 into the position indicated in this figure. During this movement the cam block 32 will move with the fingers 20 and 22 .until the block is arrested the stop e2, after which the continued movement of the spacer arm and fingers will ca 'isethe lug on the finger 22 to rideup onto the cam block, thus raising the finger 22 andfdisengaging it from the work, preparatory to the nea cycle of operation. The work will thus be .ai'itomatically shifted, after each buttoif hole is completed, to propeilyand accurately position itin the clamp fofrthefsu'c'ceedin j buttonhole. (The distance through which the work is shifted by the spacing gripper and the spacing of the buttonholes may be varied by adjustment of the stop 42, which determines the point in the forward stroke of the gripper jaws at which they disengage the work. During the sewing and spacing of the buttonholes the work may be guided by the operator so that during the spacing its rear edge will travel against the gage 46. the working engaging lug 24 on the jaw 22, permitting the work to swing in the spacing aws to accommodate the curvature of its edge. By applying a continuous pressure to the trip lever of the machine a series of buttonholes may be sewed without interrupting the operation ofthe machine.

The spacer arm 16, and the gripper jaws carried thereby, are arranged to overlie one of thework supporting plates 10 and in order that they may be swnug into position to permit the removal of the plate,as occaslon requires, the arm is so mounted that it may be swung into position to register with recesses 48 formed in the front ends of the plates and arranged to embrace the shaft 18. lVhen the arm is swung into this position the spring 29 will act to hold a shoulder 19 on the arm 26 in engagement with the lug 33 which determines its position. To reduce the distance through which the arm 16 must be swung to clear the plates it is provided at its forward end with a lateral offset, which will register with the recesses 48, when the rearwardly projecting part of the arm is brought into a position in front of the forward ends of the plates.

YVhile it is prefer'red to employ the specific construc tionand arrangement shown and described in applying the invention to the machine of the patent above referred to, it will be understood that this construction and arrangement is not essential to the broader features of the invention and may be varied or modified as found desirable or bestsuited to the construction of the machine to which the invention is to be applied.

hat is claimed is:

1. A buttonhole sewing machine having in combination a stitch-forming mechanism and a reciprocating work clamp relatively movable to sew about a buttonhole and a work spacer operated by the relative travel of the work clamp and stitch-forming mech anism.

2. A buttonhole sewing machine having in combination a stitch-forming mechanism having a travel clamp carriage, a work clamp on the carriage, a work spacer mounted on the carriage and means for operating the spacer to intermittently engage and space the work.

I 3. A buttonhole sewing machine having in -combination a stitch-forming mechanism and a work clamp relatively movable to sew about a buttonhole, a work spacer on the clamp and means for reciprocating the spacer and for engaging it with and disengaging it from the work.

4. A buttonhole sewing machine having in combination a stitch-forming mechanism having a travel clamp carriage, a work clamp on the carriage, a work spacing gripper on the carriage, means for reciprocating the gripper by the travel of the carriage and means for opening and closing the gripper.

5. A buttonhole sewing machine having in combination a stitch-forming mechanism having a clamp carriage, removable work supporting plates on the carriage, clamping jaws cooperating with the plates, a work spacer mounted on the carriage to reciprocate over the plates and movable into posi tion to permit the removal of the plates.

6. A buttonhole sewing machine having in combination a stitch-forming mechanism and a work clamp relatively movable to sew about a buttonhole, a reciprocating work spacer provided with a spring jaw, movable toward and away from the work and a jaw operating cam block, mounted for limited movement with the spacing jaw.

7. A buttonhole sewing machine having in combination a stitch-forming mechanism and a work clamp relatively movable to sew about a buttonhole, a reciprocating spacer provided with a spring jaw movable toward and away from the work, a cam block movable with the spacer jaw, onto and off of which the jaw rides, stops for limiting the movement of the block, one of which is adjustable to vary the spacing.

8. A buttonhole sewing machine'having, in combination, a stitch forming mechanism and a work clamp relatively movable to sew about a buttonhole, and a work spacer for engaging and spacing the work constructed to permit the work to swing about the point of engagement.

9. A buttonhole sewing machine having, in combination, a stitch forming mechanism and a work clamp relatively movable to sew about a buttonhole, a work spacer for en gaging and spacing the work constructed to permit the work to swing about the point of engagement, and an edge gage for guiding the work adjacent the sewing point.

10. A buttonhole sewing machine having, in combination, a stitch forming mechanism and a work clamp relatively movable to sew about a buttonhole, a work spacer provided with work engaging jaws permitting swinging movement of thework about the point of engagement and an edge gage for guiding the work.

BERNARD T. LEVEQUE. 

